The Shelter
by DancingStar01
Summary: The Earth is invaded by machines. Jack, Sue, Rick and Kate seek refuge in the mountains. Pairing: C/L, S/J, R/K PART 2 ONLINE!
1. Part 1

Title: The Shelter Part 1/2  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Castle/ Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue, Rick / Kate  
Rating: 12  
Category: AU, Mystery  
What happens: The Earth is invaded by machines. Jack, Sue, Rick and Kate seek refuge in the mountains.  
Notes: I don´t want to praise myself, but sometimes this story frightens me so much that I don´t dare to leave my home alone... :-)  
Dedicated to my cats, Nikki and Candice. :-)

**_The Shelter Part 1_**

"...What is the reason for your visit?", Clara Thomas asked curiously as she and her husband were sitting in the kitchen with Sue and Jack on an autumn Sunday.  
Sue grabbed Jack's hand, smiling. "Mom, Dad, "she began," We have decided to get married. "  
"My goodness," her mother jumped up and hugged her warmly, "That's wonderful. I'm very happy for you." Even Sue's father nodded in agreement because his wife left him no chance to speak. "It has taken a long time until you decide to take this step..."  
"We thought we wanted to get married next spring," Sue looked at Jack and he nodded, "We hope that's okay and..." She was interrupted by a noise that came directly from the sky. They put their heads back and saw a large metallic disk with lots of lights hovering above the city. Jack had no idea what it was- at the same time, he knew it. And suddenly he was freezing.  
"What is it?", Clara Thomas asked.  
The disc hovered silently over them, but then a blue light blinded them so much that they could barely see. When the light was gone, Sue noticed a strange drill at the window, she had never seen before. The window shattered and strange metallic tentacles shot inside towards her and her family. The wiry little arms were reaching for Sue's parents and Mrs. Thomas screamed.  
Only fleetingly she realized how Jack clutched her hand. "Run," he called to her and pulled her with him. Sue reached for Levi´s leash. They ran as fast as they could to Jacks car and got in. Levi sat on Sue's lap, but she ordered him to jump into the back seat. "The car won´t start!", Jack yelled when he turned around the ignition key and not a single light inside the car switched on, but then he had an idea. He short- out the vehicle and breathed out relieved when the motor started.  
"What about my parents?", Sue wanted to know.  
They turned again to the house and when it burst into flames, Jack started the engine of the car. He drove away as fast as it was possible. Sue in the passenger seat began to cry. "I'm so sorry, honey," he said to her, though he knew she couldn´t hear him. Then he focused to escape the ruined city and the dangerous, unknown machines.

Kate Beckett and Rick Castle spent the weekend at his vacation home in the Hamptons and on Sunday afternoon Kate wondered why Rick sat transfixed in front of the TV. It wasn´t unusual he behaved like this: He was an author and some issues on television excited his interest. Since they were together he sometimes had behaved like this..  
She sat down next to him and froze when she saw the news: CNN showed images of spaceships which hovered over New York City and other major cities in the world.  
"What is it?", Kate asked.  
"An alien spaceship."  
She smiled. "No. This is only a gag."  
Now Rick got up and walked to the window. He knew that her eyes would follow him. Before the big glass window, he stopped. "Does this look a gag to you?", he asked and now registered only from the corner of his eye, how Kate got up and came to him. She stayed right beside him and saw the spaceship that circled over New York and which was so big she could even see it from this distance.

"...Promise me you´ll leave the city immediately," Rick Castle said to his daughter on the phone while he walked around restlessly in his living room. Alexis said yes.  
"And promise me that you´ll call grandma... And that you´ll call me every hour."  
Alexis said yes again. Then she had to hang up. At that moment, he hated she had stayed in the city, because she wanted to go out on with her friends on weekends. Rick put his phone back into his pocket. "Kate?", he then cried excitedly. He wondered where she was, because they had considered if they should continue traveling away from the city. For safety.  
"I'm coming," she called to him and put her gun in her waistband. Kate was a police officer in New York and at the same time his muse. So they had met each other years ago.  
"You have your gun with you?"  
She rolled her eyes, but she suddenly widened in shock: "Castle, watch out!" She pulled him aside at the last moment. A car sped through the front yard and directly through the wall. Finally, the car came to a halt in the middle of the living room. A young couple got out. The woman even coughed and wiped some splinters of wood from the front window.  
"Who are you?", Kate yelled. The man and the woman lifted their hands, trembling. "Are you hurt?", Rick asked instead and only now he realized what they had done to his house.  
"This is Sue, I'm Jack," the dark-haired man said out of breath, "I'm sorry that we literally invaded you, but..."  
"Well, you´re not the only one today", Rick said.  
"We have just returned from Ohio," Sue added and grabbed the collar of her dog, "A spacecraft is circling over Cleveland..."  
"We know from the news," Rick agreed and Kate put her gun away, "There´s a spaceship over New York City, too." These two didn´t make the impression they could harm someone and Kate pointed to the spacecraft, which circled at a distance. They also stated they were on the road for hours.  
"Please help us. We have heard of a shelter in the mountains."  
Jack now also lowered his hands. "Our car broke down. If you help us, we´ll take you to this place."

One hour later, Jack and Kate sat in the kitchen, looking at a map and discussed the quickest and safest route to the refuge. Sue was sitting in the living room with Levi.  
"This is a very nice house," Sue said to Rick, "You are Richard Castle, the author, right? You wrote the Nikki Heat- and Derek Storm- books."  
"Yes, I am", Rick grinned, "Is that a hearing dog?", he wanted to know and then stroking Levi´s head.  
"Yes, I´m deaf since early childhood," Sue replied, "But my mother has left no stone unturned to enable me to live a normal life." Her voice changed when she spoke of her mother.  
"Where are your parents now?", Rick asked, "Do you have any idea where the two are?" He cast a worried glance at the screen of his cell phone and put it back in his pocket when he realized that neither Alexis nor his mother had called how they had actually promised. So he tried to reach Alexis but his mobile phone wasn´t working anymore.  
"Jack and I have visited my parents and wanted to tell them of our planned wedding, when these creatures attacked us. My parents didn´t survive the attack, I think."  
"I'm sorry," Rick answered honestly. He felt he had to do something to cheer her up. "There is a pond behind the house. You can even see it from here", he suggested and they got up, crossed the living room until they stood in front of a large glass window. "There are many fish in the pond and sometimes...", Rick broke off in mid-sentence because a group of dead fish drove on the surface. "It was probably a bad time to show you the pond," he apologized then.  
"You think that's a coincidence?", Her voice was thin.  
"Don´t know...," Rick answered honestly.  
Something else caught Sue's attention. She felt a faint vibration under her feet, which was getting stronger. "Something´s wrong here," she informed him, then Rick saw a large, massive figure standing at the other end of the pond. The figure seemed to be made of metal and when it put one foot before the other, he also felt like the floor was vibrating.  
"Kate!," he shouted to his girlfriend, "We have to get out of here!"  
"What´s wrong?" Jack wanted to know. He and Kate were planning the route to the refuge and now came out of the kitchen. They also remained in front of the glass window and immediately saw what the problem was.  
"Do you have your passport with you?", Jack asked, without averting his eyes from the figure.  
"Yes, why do you ask?"  
"You will need them. We´ll flee to Canada."

They hurried to grab their most important things and put it into bags. Rick hurried and tried to call Alexis and his mother, but none of them answered their phones.  
"Do you have everything?", Jack asked, who had already put his and Sue's bags in Rick's car. It was a sports car, so they would have to move together with Levi in the back seat a little.  
They saw that the huge figure was walking along the street. Sue felt it because the character was so heavy that it caused vibrations with every step.  
"I need my passport," Kate whispered, went upstairs to the second floor and crept down the corridor. Rick, Jack and Sue wanted to wait for her at the connection door to the garage.  
Kate squeezed past the windows until she finally reached the bathroom. She had to cross it, if she wanted to reach the bedroom where she kept her ID.  
The tall figure was standing right next to Rick's house and she could get a better look at it. It was definitely a humanoid shape. But the outer shell consisted of heavy metal. Kate suspected it might was a robot. She saw that the figure turned around and looked at the house now. She threw herself on the ground quickly to crouch in front of the tub on the cold tile so the figure couldn´t see her through the window. Kate held her breath when she felt the vibrations became stronger. The machine came closer and was now standing directly in front of the house, but she didn´t dare look. She had always laughed about Rick when he spoke of little alien beings. He was an author and had a vivid imagination. He earned his money with such things. Knowing he was right and they weren´t actually alone in the universe, scared her. And this machine- man meant her death, when he found her now.  
She held her breath again and closed her eyes in relief as the heavy steps went away and the vibrations were finally gone. Kate even put both hands on the tiles, so she could feel better. But even as silence reigned, she didn´t dare to get up. She felt paralyzed. "You can´t be scared," said a voice in her head. Then she got up and hurried into the bedroom and took her passport.

Jack had to short- out Rick´s car so they could leave the Hamptons.  
"How do you know of the refuge in the mountains?", Rick asked curiously, because to him it all sounded very much like science fiction. He steered the car and Jack was sitting in the passenger seat. Kate and Sue shared the back seat of the sports car with Levi. The car sped through a deserted intersection.  
"Friends of us work in an organization which designed a rescue plan for cases like this," Sue said.  
"The Men in Black?", Rick threw an excited glance in the rearview mirror.  
"No."  
"Who then?"  
"We can´t tell you," Sue told them, "I'm sure we all get some answers when we´re there." She had to admit she didn´t know very much about the refuge. She and Jack had received GPS coordinates where they had to arrive within 24 hours after the invasion began.  
After crossing the Canadian border, Rick switched places with Jack so he could rest a while in the passenger seat. While Jack refilled the car at a deserted gas station, Kate was willing to back him with her gun. Because the station was deserted and the windows were smashed, it was assumed the owner was either a victim of the now prevailing anarchy or the disappearance had other reasons. A Journal of the New York Times blew across the abandoned gas station, followed by a bunch of autumnal leaves, when Jack asked if he should put $ 20 on the counter. "American?", Kate asked, answering his question. They got in to the car and drove off without paying. During the journey, Kate couldn´t stop thinking of her friends in New York. She wondered how they were doing.  
Dense clouds moved across the sky and colored it in sad gray when they reached a mountain range in the deepest Canada in the evening and Jack suddenly stopped the car on a hill.  
"We're here," Jack now said and got out. In the distance he heard faint engine noise.  
Sue, Rick and Kate also left the car. He pointed to a building in the distance, which was located at the foot of a huge mountain. Sue shielded her eyes, although there was no sun which could blind her. They stood there for a while and watched the building.  
"This is not a shelter," Kate began, "This is a castle."  
"A mansion, to be exact," now a voice said. They saw a dark-haired man coming up the hill where the car was parked. "One of our clients gave us the house for cases like this," he said and noticed that Sue and Jack, who he already knew, had brought two other people.  
"I'm Connor Doyle," he introduced himself, "And you are?"  
"Richard Castle and Kate Beckett."  
"You are the famous author," Connor said and Rick was glad he had recognized him. But then the dark-haired man was serious again: "We should hurry and leave quickly. Staying outside so long can be dangerous."  
They climbed back into the car and followed Connor, who also entered a vehicle at the foot of the hill and they drove to the facility. A door opened and the vehicles had to pass through a security barrier. Then they were allowed to park their vehicles.  
After they got out, Jack, Sue, Rick and Kate had to show their passports to a security guard. Sue and Jack also showed him the written confirmation they were allowed to participate in the project Shelter. "What about them?", The security man then wanted to know when he saw Rick and Kate, "The two are not on my list."  
"Then put them on the list," Connor told him. The two had helped Jack and Sue to come to this place. He couldn´t send them away.  
The security man did as he was told and they passed the last safety check. They had to leave their bags, which was brought to their new accommodation in advance.  
"Electricity is available", Rick noted. He didn´t know if he should be excited.  
"Yes, we have an emergency generator, which is located in a protective bunker."  
"How big is this plant?", Jack asked curiously as they walked along a corridor with no windows.  
"I would be more interested in what makes this house so special that it has been selected as a shelter," Sue said. She emphasized the word Shelter especially because when she and Jack were selected for this project, they had expected something else- an underground system, for example. However, she had never expected that IT would really happen.  
"A large part of the system is embedded in the mountain: laboratories, the in-house school, medical station, the command center, emergency quarters..." God forbid that they would ever need them. "You will learn further technical details in the meeting tonight."  
"Aren´t you one of the people who work in the command center?", Sue couldn´t resist this question.  
"Yes," Connor replied truthfully.  
"This facility needed years of planning and preparation," Rick said, "Did you know the fact that we´re attacked one day?" He was amazed and looked at some people who walked past him. In addition, he thought, someone must have seen the spaceships before: Some hobby- astronomer must have noticed then with a telescope and the news had spread on the internet.  
"Yes, we have been working on this facility for a long time. That we will be attacked, we knew for half a year: a SETI employee has received signals from space and with the help of his colleagues he deciphered the signal. When we came behind where the signals come from and that it was a kind of countdown, the Kepler- telescope has sent some images. Then we had only to count one and one. Of course we were initially shocked and you may assume the government has a emergency plan for situations like this. They didn´t have a plan because no one believed in this scenario. So it was left to us to select the smartest people who can make the rebuilding of a civilization possible and they were sworn to silence. To avoid mass panic... "  
"You mean, you have only selected the people who are worthy to be saved," Kate corrected him.  
"We can´t save all the inhabitants of the earth," Connor said, "Believe me, there is no one who regrets that more than I do." The discussion was over for him. "This is Lindsay. She will show you everything." Connor left them alone with a blonde woman. Lindsay Donner was his girlfriend and she noticed his bad mood. Worried she looked after him, but then she smiled friendly to the newcomers. Sue and Jack already knew her because they had met for the first time one year ago. At that time, she and Connor and some of their friends had worked for the OSIR and they needed the help of FBI agents. Their choice were Sue Thomas and Jack Hudson and they had never regretted.  
"I'm Lindsay, Hello. I would like to show you our facility, "she said.  
"Yes, show us your Utopia," Kate murmured so softly that no one could hear. But she wasn´t sure if Sue had seen it: On the way here Sue told her although she was deaf she could read lips and therefore almost always knew what her interlocutor said.  
"I have a question...", Kate started and caught up to Lindsay, "Are this really aliens who attack us? It could be another military power, which..."  
"...attacks all countries of the world in the same time?", Lindsay finished her sentence. "The spaceships have been reported not only in America or Canada, but around the world. In addition, the spacecraft should answer your question. Have you seen them?"  
"Yes," Kate nodded in agreement.  
"How many people live in this facility?", Jack wanted to know.  
To answer this question, Lindsay had to take a look at one of the information terminals with which the plant was equipped. The computers were almost everywhere. The number of residents changed constantly because currently many residents arrived.  
"Currently, there are 105 women and 100 men and 50 children. 30% of them are over 12 years old. 51% of the residents of this plant are active in scientific professions, the rest is responsible for care and safety."  
While Lindsay said this, Rick realized that he and Kate hadn´t received any "official invitation" to this system. Sue and Jack had brought them. Now he wondered if they could stay here. Lindsay seemed to have read his mind, because she smiled. "Don´t worry. Mr. Castle, you could contribute to our currently sparse entertainment and Miss Beckett, you would complement our security team. I have no doubt you will settle in here. We humans are designed to adapt to the behavior of our fellow human beings. If the rest of the group has become accustomed to, you will as well." Lindsay added they also could think about it, but Rick and Kate didn´t know a place where they were currently safer than in this establishment. Next, Lindsay showed them the medical station. They passed a conference room. Lindsay opened the door and introduced the men who were sitting at the table then they went on. They walked down a narrow stairway together and then reached the stables. Levi ran ahead as they entered the stables. The boxes were not only inhabited by horses, but mostly of cattle. One or two more boxes were filled with hay and straw. A cat was sitting in front of a horse box and Levi chased the cat away. In another stall three sheep and two goats lived.  
"What is this? Is this Noah's Ark?", Kate asked as they walked down the long corridor, past cows and horses.  
"No," Lindsay turned to her and smiled, "The ark would have to leave home at some point and this house can´t... These animals ensure our survival until we have adapted to the new situation. The cows secure our milk. The horses are useful if we need workhorses. There is even a greenhouse where vegetable is planted... Of course there are some rules we must follow." For example, they had to hold back with the consumption of some foods until a supply was guaranteed.  
Lindsay had suggested they were intended hungry from the long trip and they ate a bite in the cafeteria, then Lindsay suggested, now to show them their room, which was reserved for them. It was about 20 square meters and included a bedroom and a small living area. A small bathroom adjoined the room.  
The room of Rick and Kate was located at the other end of the corridor and looked almost identical. Kate noticed Rick´s worried face when they were alone. "What's going on?", she asked.  
Rick stared at the screen of his cell phone. "I can´t reach my daughter," Rick admitted, "That's what worries me." It no longer mattered how much money he had in his previous life before the arrival of aliens. Here, they were all the same: they all had relatives out there, of which they didn´t know how they were doing.  
Kate grabbed his hand and told him she was doing the same and he shouldn´t worry. Alexis would find a way how she could contact him. Kate hoped she wasn´t mistaken.

In the evening Kate and Rick were in their room and checked a few personal things they had taken to this facility: Photos of family members were among it and Ricks books he had stuffed into his bag in his home in the Hamptons almost in panic.  
Lindsay was responsible for the organizing of shifts and Kate had already received her roster. Rick wanted to help her and he told Lindsay he couldn´t spend his day with the writing of books. She agreed and Rick and Kate could stay a team. Tomorrow they were responsible for the night shift for the first time. Rick had also received a new cell phone so he could try to reach his daughter.  
There was a knock at the door and the visit it was Connor and Lindsay. "Good evening," Lindsay smiled as she entered, "Do you like the room?"  
"Yes," Kate nodded, "Is almost like a five star hotel." When she saw Rick's look she quickly apologized. This place seemed equally fascinated and horrible: Because she knew this plant was a refuge for humanity, they wore different civilian clothes. Based on science fiction novels Kate had believed everybody in such facilities was wearing futuristic, simple clothes in cold colors.  
"We came to apologize," Connor finally began when Rick offered them a place on the couch and when Rick didn´t understand the reason of apology, Connor added: "Because of our discussion today. You said to me that only the most important people have been selected to survive here."  
"The decision is already made, right?", Kate sounded reproachful, "We can´t change anything about the fact that only about 250 people will survive the preemptive strike of the aliens."  
Connor opened his mouth to answer, but Lindsay took his hands to calm him. For a split second, she smiled comfortingly, her long blonde ponytail danced across her shoulders. "Don´t forget we haven´t made all these decisions," she said, "And you will find refuge here as well."  
Kate got up and Rick could see in her eyes she just wanted to ask if they should be thankful and what about the people who were originally intended for residents of this room. She fired her accusation like a weapon and was surprised when Lindsay didn´t respond angrily. "We have a sufficient number of replacement rooms," she reassured her, "Anyway, we wanted to let you know that we are worried about your well being." She looked at Connor and he nodded.  
"You may think, we would be cold and distant," he began, "But we aren´t. We are sitting here in the same boat when the fight starts out there."  
"Hold on!", Rick interrupted the conversation, "Does that mean, the terrible invasion isn´t over yet?"  
"Mr. Castle..."  
"Rick," he corrected, "Call me Rick...", he now turned to his girlfriend, "And this is Kate."  
"Well," Connor gave in, "Rick, do you think these creatures traveled God knows how far for saying hello? They have already destroyed several cities. We can only speculate about the ultimate goal of their mission until now. Perhaps they have come to search for a new home after their own planet was swallowed by a black hole. The human race is standing in their way so they try to wipe us out and..."  
"Which cities?", Rick asked. A strange feeling spread through his stomach.  
"CNN in New York doesn´t broadcast anymore," Lindsay looked concerned now. She still held Connors hand. "They only broadcast a test image for two hours... We therefore assume...", she didn´t continue. For a moment there was depressing silence in the room. Rick took a moment to realize what that meant for Alexis and his mother. He got up and went to the window to stare into the darkness. There was no balcony to his and Kate's room. They had also learned today that none of the windows could be opened and consisted of shatterproof glass. Fresh air was only available through a ventilation system.  
"Is there any sign of life from New York?", He asked, without looking at them.  
"No. I'm sorry, "Lindsay noted it was better to leave them alone now and she and Connor got up from the couch. They went to the door, but before she left the room, Lindsay stopped in the doorway. "In addition, there are now 273 people who inhabit this plant. There have been a few new arrivals after you. And it is an international project which doesn´t only exist in North America but in every continent." Then she left.  
It wasn´t Rick's way of crying like a little child, he said to her years before but at that moment he couldn´t help. He didn´t even calm down when Kate came to him and put her arms around him comfortingly.

After they left the room and had returned to their own, Lindsay sat behind her mobile information terminal. She called on the current status of all previously destroyed cities. Connor noticed her expression and sat down beside her. "What´s wrong?", he asked.  
"New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Cairo, Mumbai, Sydney... It's worse than we thought."

To be continued...

zu Favoriten hinzufügen

X


	2. Part 2

Title: The Shelter Part 2/2  
Author: Dancing Star  
Crossover: PSI Factor / Castle/ Sue Thomas FBEye  
Pairing: Connor / Lindsay, Jack / Sue, Rick / Kate  
Rating: 12  
Category: AU, Mystery  
What happens:: The Earth is invaded by machines. Jack, Sue, Rick and Kate seek refuge in the mountains.  
Notes: I don´t want to praise myself, but sometimes this story frightens me so much that I don´t dare to leave my home alone... :-)

**The Shelter Part 2**

When Sue awoke the next morning, she felt rested and refreshed. Her room had a large glass window, which allowed the sun to shine directly on her bed. Jack was already up. She saw the mountains a few miles away and... She froze, because she also saw a machine-man, who stood motionless in the mountains, watching the building. Sue dived out of bed, grabbed her robe and ran. On the way down she asked a scientist, where the command center was and when he had answered her, Sue was on her way there.  
She was lucky: Connor and Lindsay were already at work. "They have found us!"  
"Who?," Connor asked.  
"The machine- men."  
"That's impossible", now another scientist interjected. By his ID, Sue could see he was called Peter Axon. "This system is protected by a shield designed by our technicians to light diffraction. This facility doesn´t appear on the radar screens... No one can find it."  
"But they can see it."  
"Enable the cameras," Connor suggested and Peter Axon did what he said. He opened a live stream video file and some kind of movie appeared on the screen. "Stop!," Connor cried, when he saw something strange, "Can we activate a different camera?" He glanced at the surrounding grid, which appeared in front of him on the desk with a digital interface, "Activate the Camera in Sector 17C."  
The image on the giant screen enlarged and how Sue had told them, they now recognized the behemoth of metal.  
"Damn," the scientist cursed who sat next to Peter, "How could we only overlooked them?" The environment was equipped with sensors in a radius of 50 miles and this should report them every move. After Kate and Sue had reported the mechanical engineering would be so heavy that the floor vibrated at every step, they had assumed the machines placed a decent weight on the scale.  
The door to the command center opened and Rick, Kate and Jack came in. They appeared for the morning safety meeting and were surprised when they saw the screen on which one of the machine-man was shown.  
"What is it?", Kate asked, "Did they find us?" In her mind she added this was virtually impossible. The facility didn´t appear on the radar and was protected by a specially developed device. Also in Rick's head this question haunted because last night they had learned all sorts of technical information about the security systems and the refuge place rules.  
"What should we do now?", Rick asked, thinking for a moment, "In War of the Worlds, the aliens were defeated by bacteria in the water...", he remembered, "And in Independence Day there was a computer virus… I'm sorry: More invasion scenarios don´t occur to me currently." He couldn´t focus when he was under massive pressure.  
"That could work."  
"What? The bacteria or virus?", Lindsay asked and they were all amazed she disagreed Connor," This is not a scenario constructed by Rick. We don´t know if it works... Also: Where should we muster a virus which paralyzes the spaceships so quickly?"  
"I suggest we send out a reconnaissance troop," Jack piped up, "Maybe we will get a glimpse of how much the enemy really knows about this plant."  
"And maybe we will guide them to us," Connor corrected him.  
"We should vote," said Jack now, "Those who vote for the reconnaissance troop?"  
In the command center from 20 present people 19 raised a hand. Connor was the only one who didn´t answer. "We won, I guess."

Kate and Rick were willing to accompany them in the reconnaissance mission and so the preparations took place in the underground garage. The safety vest Lindsay was wearing was pretty hard. Also, the backpack she now threw in the trunk of the Jeep was no lightweight. The backpack contained provisions, a map, camouflage possibilities and a weapon for defense. Lindsay checked the travel route on a mobile computer terminal, so they reached Sector 17C quickly. Connor came to her.  
"I guess you want me to say right away I should take care of me," Lindsay suspected. She hardly noticed he also wore a safety vest.  
"No," Connor said and also threw a heavy backpack in the Jeep, "I'm coming with you."  
"What? Your place is here." Lindsay ignored Kate, who now placed her backpack in the jeep.  
"Sounds like you're horrified that I´m coming with you..."  
"Not directly. I am rather surprised... Like I said, your place is here in the command center."  
"Jack can do this", Connor interrupted her, "My place is with you." With that, they climbed into the jeep and drove off.

It took about twenty minutes until they reached Sector 17C. Connor drove the jeep at high speed across a deserted forest road and when the occupants of the vehicle heard a loud buzzing, he switched off the headlights and continued driving in the rain. Even in this distance they could see a foreign vehicle which looked like two huge but narrow wheels. When they came closer, Connor brought the jeep to a halt behind a wild hedgerow. Here, the vehicle wouldn´t be discovered so quickly.  
The rain had stopped and Lindsay was the first person who got out and took her backpack. The walk with heavy backpacks wasn´t easy. The bushes in the forest reached for their clothing permanently. Finally, they had to climb over a hill and when they reached the summit, Connor instructed them they should hide.  
Kate and Rick immediately fell to their knees and peered over the hill. Connor and Lindsay followed. "What´s wrong?", Lindsay whispered. In the clearing in front of them stood a large, almond-shaped container, which was placed vertically. The tank was silver and was guarded by some mechanical beings.  
"No idea," Connor admitted excited and searched his backpack for a pair of binoculars. He found some and looked through it. Kate noticed that no guard seemed to be on the back of the container.  
"We should split up into two groups," Kate suggested. She pointed to the rear.  
"I'll go with you," Lindsay said and immediately the two women left. Connor wanted to protest, but he didn´t make it. Worried, he instead had to observe through his binoculars, how Lindsay and Kate slipped through the hedges. They didn´t have radios and they had left their phones for safety in the Shelter.  
From her new vantage point Lindsay and Kate could see that a narrow laser beam reached into the ground. The two didn´t know what the purpose of this beam was. It could be anything.  
"I've always thought, all those stories about alien life are fictional tales," Kate admitted when they huddled together in the hedge and observed a figure, "I never told to a person, but... As a child I often had the dream a blue light is swirling in the night around my bed. I can well remember the anxiety I have felt. I had this dream again and again and it was so real... Now and then shapes appeared in the dream, but I can´t remember them very well."  
"Sounds like one of the horror stories of your husband."  
"Yes," Kate nodded in agreement, "I still don´t know if these stories could possibly be true, but if I tell Castle, he will say he told me... May I ask a question?", Kate didn´t wait if it was okay, "How did you become a member of this project?"  
"Like many others," she murmured, without taking her eyes off the strange beings, "We have been selected by our job." Lindsay had made an interesting observation. "The ground..."  
"What´s wrong?"  
"It doesn´t vibrate when the machine- people move," she realized, "It could be ground troops. They are significantly lighter than the machines we know."  
"Yes, but why? We...", Kate paused, when suddenly one of the creatures turned around and walked directly to them. Connor and Rick saw it from their hiding place on the other side of the clearing.  
"They have discovered them," Connor said worried and began searching again in his backpack. Finally, he pulled out a handgun and Rick laughed incredulously. "What? Shall we kill the aliens with that?"  
"The backpacks were put together one month ago. At this time we didn´t know how the enemy looks like."  
"With these weapons we won´t even tickle them!"  
"It´s not the purpose to shoot an alien, but distract them. We won´t start an interstellar war." With these words, Connor sat up and could now see how Lindsay and Kate ran through the wood and tried to escape, but the machine-beings were faster. Connor aimed at the pursuers and he actually stepped back, but only for a moment: It had to analyze where the bullet which caught his attention came from. Kate and Lindsay run, the machine- being had discovered Connor and Rick on the top of the hill. The two decided they should also run now. They stumbled down the hill and then caught up with Kate and Lindsay.  
"How are you?", Connor asked anxiously as she ran back to the jeep. The heavy weight of the backpacks suddenly no longer mattered.  
"We are fine," Lindsay confirmed, when they reached the vehicle and boarded. Connor started the engine and drove off. They believed to be safe when suddenly one of the trees behind them shattered and Lindsay turned around. "Go!," she yelled and Connor hit the gas. Now, one of the heavier machine- people had almost caught up with them. Lindsay felt the ground vibrating. Connor drove faster when a tree right next to them was ripped from the ground.  
At a branch Connor tore his steering wheel to the right and drove past a sign that announced Black Mountain Tunnel. The tunnel wasn´t one of the main thoroughfares of the area but it was built because some farmers who lived on the other side of the mountain had to take a time-consuming way to their fields. In 1997 there had been a serious accident, so additional emergency exits had to be installed and sometimes it was closed due to refurbishment works.  
Connor drove the car into the tunnel. The machine-man followed, but realized he didn´t fit into the narrow tunnel.  
They left the jeep inside the tunnel and hide in an emergency exit. The small glass window in the door was so dirty they couldn´t be seen from the outside.  
"How long must we wait here?", Kate asked softly. The air was stuffy and hot in the emergency exit.  
"Be quiet for a moment," Connor said, because he thought he had heard a noise outside. Through the window Kate could now see a group of tall, slender figures walking past the jeep and examined it. Connor had parked the car near the emergency exit, so they could keep an eye on what was happening to it.  
"My God, what the...", Lindsay began but stopped when one of the creatures suddenly turned its head and looked towards the emergency exit. Any blood drained from her face with a shock when she saw how the creature now approached at the door of the emergency exit and then pressed its face against it. For a second, they didn´t know what they should do. Push open the door and run away? Where they seen by the alien with the pale skin? The creature then pressed a hand against the window pane. It had three fingers: a center- and a left and right finger. Suckers were located at the fingertips like a squid.  
Lindsay grabbed Connor's hand and Kate's nails buried into the arm of Rick. They held their breath again when the being resigned and then went back to the jeep. "They probably can´t see well," Rick concluded, "Otherwise it would have seen us behind the glass."  
Then they had to protect their eyes, because a strong blue light flooded the tunnel. When it was gone, Connor, Lindsay, Rick and Kate peered again through the dirty glass. The jeep, which Connor had parked near the emergency exit ten minutes ago, was gone. The aliens left the tunnel unimpressed. A few minutes later, Lindsay felt a vibration of the floor, which became weaker. Kate felt it too. "How long do we have to hide in here?," she asked, when the vibration was gone. She reached for her flashlight in the dark and glanced at her watch.  
They stayed for an hour. Then Connor decided they could leave their hiding place. As they left the tunnel on the other side they searched for weapons in their backpacks. Maybe this could cause nothing against the aliens, but they weren´t allowed to forget they were in the deepest wilderness of Canada. There were also wild animals for sure.  
"How do we get back to the plant?", Rick wanted to know. Although they had maps in their backpacks, the Shelter wasn´t shown on there in case if a stranger found the map.  
"We have to walk," Connor said. He had no idea how long they would be on the road. This area was really strange for him. He knew the plant as his pocket, but he had no idea where he was now.  
They were walking quite a while on a gravel road when a military vehicle came into view. It then slowed down in front of them and a dark-skinned man got out. "Where is your jeep?", Curtis Rollins wanted to know from Connor.  
"Better don´t ask... What are you doing here? Did Jack send you to look for us?"  
Curtis helped them to store their heavy backpacks in the vehicle. "He was worried when you didn´t return to the shelter in time."  
They sat in the car and drove back to the plant.

"Where you been so long?", Jack asked, his brow furrowed as Connor, Lindsay, Rick and Kate entered the command center. Sue was with him and looked worried, too.  
They told what they had seen in Sector 17C and their Jeep had been destroyed in the Black Mountain tunnel. Sue had always believed the blue light would have been some kind of scanner. Maybe that wasn´t true. She had no idea what exactly it was.  
Then Lindsay and Kate told of the almond-shaped container and the small laser beam that seemed to reach into the ground. They debated whether it was a surveying device, or something else. "The beings were suddenly easier. We suspect there are lighter ground forces, " Lindsay said," And the big machines didn´t fit into Black Mountain Tunnel. I suspect there are only robots, controlled by the smaller, skinnier beings."  
"How exactly do they look like?"  
Kate gave them a description of the creature and expressed her regret they had no police draftsman. That could make a sketch with ease.  
"I can help you," Sue suggested, "I was good in art class at school." So they sat down together for the rest of the day and Sue made the sketch. They described Sue even the palm of the alien and Rick added they probably couldn´t see well. Sue wrote this next to the sketch and she wondered if they could somehow use the new information to their advantage.

Lindsay was tired when she went to bed in the evening. She fell asleep instantly, but was awake in the middle of the night because she had a nightmare. In her dream, she found herself alone in a beautiful forest. The sun was shining and she heard birds chirping. But suddenly trees burst beside her and a machine- man appeared.  
She slowly woke up and turned on the lamp next to her bed. When the room was bathed in soft light, she leaned back and stroked with both hands over her face tiredly. Connor was still asleep and she didn´t wake him. But something was wrong. A strange feeling crept over her. She looked at the glass of water, which stood right next to her bedside lamp. The water surface vibrated. Then it vibrated again.  
She immediately turned around to Connor and shook his shoulder. "Connor, please wake up! You have to see this!"  
He complained, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Finally he sat up in his bed and looked at the vibrating surface of the water. All of a sudden he was wide awake: He jumped out of bed, ran out of the room to activate the alarm system somehow.

They saw the giant machine- beings half an hour later, when they were still closer than expected. Jack woke his girlfriend when he heard the alarm. He quickly jumped into the bathroom to get dressed. Then he made his way to the command center. Sue had to promise him she would also get there fast as possible.  
Jack had left two minutes before, as Sue's room was suddenly flooded with a bright blue light. She knew what that meant. Sue was desperately searching for a place where she could hide but she didn´t found one. The cabinet?... Was filled to the top.  
So she knelt beside her bed and pulled the covers so far that she disappeared among it. Sue pressed her hands firmly on the carpet under the bed to feel whether the machine-man was still in the vicinity. And because she could feel anything this time, she believed she was safe. Sue almost wanted to crawl out of her hiding place, when suddenly two massive boots appeared in front of the bed. "Ground troops", she thought, pressing her lips together. The owner of the boots made a step towards the bed. When Sue believed the wearer of the boots had discovered her under the bed, his feet suddenly turned around and ran out of the room down the hall. Sue crawled to the edge of the bed to be able to see what was happening. She saw Levi who stood at the end of the corridor and barked excited. The about two meters tall figure followed him.  
"Levi," she cried, but then she changed her mind and ran to the stairs to reach the command center.  
There, everybody was in an uproar. "The outer areas are evacuated," Jack answered, "Shall we see what happens now?"  
"They are already within the plant," Sue interrupted him, "The break-resistant window in my room is broken, that´s how they entered the building."  
"Does anyone have an idea?", Peter asked, "Conventional weapons don´t help. Their technology is far developed." They had known of the impending attack for half a year and the enemy had managed to overrun them practically in their sleep.  
"Teflon bullets," Kate replied, "Those are balls can even snap through a car door. If we're lucky, it´ll also snap through these extraterrestrial beings." When she had said her proposal, Rick looked at her with a mixture of wonder and enthusiasm. He never expected she would actually deal with this issue and how to vacate their opponents out of the way.  
"We need to find out if there are Teflon bullets in our armories," Connor suggested. He would check in person.

Because he knew the system pretty well, it was no problem to get to one of armories. Connor knew all the short cuts and so he knew what corridor he could take if they wanted to avoid uninvited guests. Sue had said the aliens were already inside the plant. He wished at that moment they were able to contact the other Shelters in Europe or Asia and asked how the situation was.  
"I have a new theory," Rick said when they crept through the dark corridors, "The creatures in the tunnel. They HAVE seen us. Probably they let us go on purpose, so we lead them to our plant: They have been waiting in the tunnel and then followed us. They have waited for the night, when most of the inhabitants asleep and now they are attacking us. But another possibility is that the shields which protect the plant are ineffective."  
"Both sounds plausible", Connor had to admit ungrudgingly. They reached the door to one of the armories and Connor had to enter his security code. The metal door opened, the light switched on and they could enter.  
Even Jack was stunned. "Wow!" In the armory rifles were presented hanging on the wall. There was even a weapon that reminded him of an energy cannon from a science fiction movie. "What´s that?", he asked.  
"Don´t touch it," Connor stopped him and picked up the gun, "It has taken three years to develop it."  
"Three years?"  
"Well, this facility wasn´t only built by using the research results of the OSIR and SETI. Some technical developments we owe to the clever minds that work on Area 51." During Lindsay said this, Kate was looking for Teflon ammunition. She finally found the ammunition in a closet and a chest full of Teflon balls. The individual sizes were again packed in different plastic bags. She placed the individual sizes of bullets to the matching weapon. "I am relieved you are here," Connor said as he received some weapons he should carry. He had to admit he didn´t know about this in his opinion primitive theme. And he was glad that Jack and Sue had brought Kate. When they were fully loaded, they left the armory.  
The way back to the command center led through a corridor, which was equipped with many junctions. When one of the crosses came into sight, Connor suddenly pressed against the wall. He had seen a movement in the transverse corridor and his suspicions were confirmed when a tall, lean figure was walking past a neon tube. But there was something else: a smaller shape which moved on countless legs that looked like a crab scissors.  
"What the hell is that?", Jack whispered. Connor admitted he had no idea, but he asked Lindsay for a moment to hold the weapons he carried. When she took one of the guns, it fell down and the clacking noise attracted the attention of the smaller shape. The creature crawled to them and Connor dived to the information terminal to give the computer the command to lock the automatic door in the corridor. The creature was now isolated from the other aliens. But it still crawled towards them. Kate didn´t know what to do- except for shooting.

Shrieking, the creature collapsed on the floor. "At least we know the Teflon bullets serve their purpose," Kate said.  
"Maybe this was just by chance," Lindsay said, "What is it?"  
"We should take it with us and investigate," Sue suggested, "Of course, only if it's really dead."  
Rick kicked gently against the armor of the creature. "Yep," he said, "Looks pretty dead." Kate agreed to carry his weapons so he could help Connor to get the creature to the command center.

Peter wasn´t happy about their latest achievement and he also expressed the question of what they should do if the alien wasn´t dead. They took the creature then to the medical station and asked Doctor Claire Davisson who was working there if she could examine it. Claire refused, so they had to find someone else. They were a little clueless and walked around the table on which the creature lay.  
"I have no medical knowledge," Sue excused herself and Rick joined her immediately.  
"I've shot this creature," Kate said, "That's enough."  
"What about you, Lindsay?", Connor asked and then looked at his girlfriend, "You've helped Anton in an autopsy."  
"Once," she corrected, "And I had to hold up a piece of skin."  
"That will be enough," he added and promised he would help her. The others could watch them if they wanted to but they left the room thankfully. It took about half an hour then they broke off the examination. Lindsay came out of the examination room first. "What's going on?", Jack asked as he got up.  
"We've found something," Lindsay told. She lifted a bag in which there was a vertebra.  
"It´s a part of the human thoracic spine," she said.  
"Where did you find it?", Sue asked, "In its stomach?"  
"No. In its back", Lindsay replied, all color had drained from her face, "This creature was human."

"They are on this planet since when? Two days? Three?", Rick asked in disbelief, "How can a person transform into this creature within this time?" They were in the command center and presented their research results to the other scientists.  
"I don´t know," Lindsay admitted.  
"And are you sure this creature was human once?", Peter made sure.  
"We asked Dr. Davisson and she confirmed... They are now in the 3rd floor", Lindsay said. The large display showed a plan of the third floor and in some places the display was blinking. This meant there was a breach in the security system.  
"The question is, what are we going to do," Kate began, crossing her arms helplessly above the chest, "If we continue to shoot at these creatures we kill people."  
Peter rolled on his office chair to one of the screens and then tapped on the keyboard until a different picture appeared. "These...", he searched desperately for a word, "These creatures, from which you killed one, is something like a slave. With the help of the security camera we got some videos were this large, slender figures instruct the small crabs." This short film was recorded according to time stamp a few minutes ago.  
"Makes sense," Connor said, "They enslave humanity and then grab our planet. If we resist, we must remember this slaves are human."  
"They were human," Lindsay corrected him, "We don´t know if we can turn them back."  
"To be honest, I think that's impossible," Peter said, "So, we need an option. We have to show them we don´t let this attack happen. Many small but effective attacks are better than as a great pre-emptive strike."  
Connor thought they would hurt themselves, for example, with an attack by nuclear weapons. They tried to find a solution, but then Kate suggested they should get more ammunition from the armory and thus to free their plant from the clutches of alien beings. About everything else they could worry afterwards.  
"Why do we stand around here when our plant is destroyed by aliens?", Jack asked.

They had sent some teams with plenty of Teflon ammunition while Connor, Lindsay, Rick, Kate, Sue and Jack went to the armory. The corridors were dark and in a distance Lindsay could hear the shots of the team which tried to push back the aliens. It might sound harsh, but they hadn´t told the team he slaves had once been human. If they knew, they probably would have refused to shoot at them. "I wish we could tell anyone we have found an effective weapon," Connor whispered, "This Teflon cartridges are better than nothing."  
"The other shelters?"  
"Yes, or the rest that is left of our civilization. But how do we do that? We can´t send a letter to Australia."  
Suddenly Rick chimed in their discussion, "I heard that the old telephone network, which also sends Telegrams is still working. Peter and one of his scientist buddies have talked about it."  
"I don´t know if this has enough power to Asia, or Australia."  
Jack suggested he might try using his cell phone to send an email to a resident of the other shelters, but the internet didn´t work. "Too bad," he said, "I would have sent an email to Michael Rivers. He seems credible."  
"Michael Rivers?", Rick echoed, "The Australian author? The one who wrote the book "Life in the Universe"?"  
"That's him."  
"Do you know what I think?", Rick asked, "That blue light beam could be an electromagnetic pulse. That's the reason why our cars don´t work anymore."  
They reached the door to the armory and again Connor unlocked the door with a code. The door opened and the light switched on. This time, however, they were expected by a group of slaves who was destroying everything inside the armory. And apparently they weren´t the only ones who had the idea to come to this place: They saw a man who was on the ground and he was dead. His skin was covered with some kind of plating and his face had changed so it almost looked like the face of a slave.  
With a single keystroke Connor locked the door again. They heard noises when the slaves ran inside of the door. "Did you see that?, Sue asked incredulously, "They have eaten the ammunition..."  
"Now we know how they were able to transform humans so quickly."  
"Is there another armory?", Kate wanted to know.  
"There is another chamber three floors above us," Connor had first to report to the command center that an armory was lost. Then they made their way to the stairs. When they walked across on a base plate, they suddenly slid through a dark tube. The end of the tube resulted in a laboratory.  
"Where are we?", Lindsay asked, as Connor helped her getting up.  
"I don´t know ...", he admitted. Connor knew the area very well. He had never seen this lab on any of the floor plans. They passed some devices and eventually they discovered a large, round ball whose surface was made of metal. They recognized a time fuse device which was switched off. "Is that what I think?", Kate asked. She began to look for a Geiger counter and finally found one in the shelves. "At least it's not a nuclear warhead," she said relieved. She and Castle had already believed to be contaminated. Using an atomic weapon wasn´t pretty smart.  
"We should take it with us," Connor suggested.  
"How do we get it out of here?", Kate asked, "We can´t push that bomb through the tube, through which we have come."  
Rick didn´t like to correct her, but: "Here is a door."

Peter wondered why it had taken longer to return to the command center with ammunition. He asked if everything was alright. Then Connor, Rick and Jack put a round object on the table.  
"The teams that should push back the aliens are a good distraction. We had no problems, " Connor said and his friends believed to have misheard, "Are the teams successful?"  
"Until now," Peter showed them the latest images of the surveillance camera then he put a frown when he saw their strange souvenir, "What is it?"  
"An explosive device," Connor replied, "We have found it by chance."  
"At the armory?", Peter was astonished.  
"No. The armory was full of slaves", Kate corrected and she wanted to say Connors was wrong: They had problems. Connor then told how they had come into the secret lab and how they had found the explosive devices.  
"This is the solution," Peter said, "The shelters around the world are built the same... So, at least in the inner regions... That would mean there is a lab with a bomb in each shelter. If we supply the other Shelter with this information, we are able to launch a global counter-attack."  
"This assumes that the explosive device is also effective. Another problem will be to get the explosives on one of the spaceships."  
"I'm doing this," Connor said Lindsay knew immediately what he meant.  
"No," she therefore disagreed.  
"They need an incentive to get the bomb on board."  
"No," Lindsay repeated. She didn´t want to change her mind.  
"It won´t be necessary that any of us sacrifice," Peter said, "They are innately curious." He was in possession of surveillance images in which the slaves were gathering some items from the outer regions of the plant. When they´d place the bomb and only then activated the time fuse, they had a chance.

Connor and Lindsay crawled next to each other through one of the air shafts. They had the bomb with them and they wanted to put it in a suitable place. After a brief consultation in the command headquarters, they had opted for the living quarters. According to the monitoring system the slaves were still busy trying to destroy everything there.  
"I can´t believe you would have placed the bomb on the spaceship voluntarily," she whispered.  
"And I don´t know what your problem is: We don´t do it...," although Connor was still convinced his method would have been more effective.  
They reached the end of the ventilation shaft and Connor had to solve the security bars from the inside. Finally he pushed the cover aside and they pushed the bomb into the hallway. Lindsay should first climb back into the air shaft, because at the end of the corridor they saw a group of slaves crawled across the floor. "What´s wrong?", Lindsay asked, "Did they see the bomb?"  
"No," Connor shook his head helplessly, but then he had an idea how he could win their attention: he began to whistle, crawled back into the ventilation shaft and put the cover back on it. His plan had worked: He and Lindsay heard the clattering noise of the scissors, when the slaves discovered the explosives and carried it away curiously. Connor looked at Lindsay's face and noticed her relieved grin. He just hoped the creatures would bring the ordnance into their spaceship.  
But they weren´t done yet. Connor crawled again to the end of the ventilation shaft, pushed the cover aside so he reached an empty floor and used the remote control with which he was able to trigger the countdown of the bomb.  
A countdown of 20 minutes started. The slaves hadn´t noticed it.  
Connor and Lindsay hurried to come as quickly as possible to the command center.

Connor thought it was better if they wouldn´t see the explosion, but his colleagues wanted to go into the destroyed, outer areas of the plant. The sun rose slowly over the mountains, as the spacecraft, which was now hovering in the distance over the mountains, was finally crossed by lightning and explosions. The people cheered as the ship crashed. They saw how the creatures crawled to the spaceship in a hurry.  
"Let's go," Peter suggested, "We need to define the coordinates of the secret laboratory in a message to the other shelter. If these also find a bomb, they will launch an attack and then everything is over."  
Connor nodded in agreement. He had no idea how Peter wanted to tell the other shelter about the secret lab by telegraphy, but it was a good suggestion.  
"I can´t find my phone, Rick exclaimed suddenly.  
"What's so bad?"  
"My daughter could have called."  
"Let´s search for it", Lindsay suggested, "Where have you been lately?"  
Rick now admitted he could have lost his phone virtually anywhere. Except for the mission in the forest. They made their way to the empty upper floors of the plant and began to search for the phone in Rick and Kate´s room. Jack also suggested he could try to call the cell phone. Maybe it rang then. So Rick told him his phone number, Jack tapped it into his own device and it actually rang. The ringing was coming from the direction of the bed. They started to dig and finally Rick kept his mobile phone in his hands. The display was destroyed, but he could see the number of the incoming caller yet. Rick thanked them for helping.  
"Levi!", Sue cried then. She had seen a Golden Retriever which seemed to search for someone at the other end of the corridor and when Levi heard her voice, he ran to her. When he was with her, Sue hugged her dog, trying not to burst into tears. She had thought her dog hadn´t survived the attack and persecution by the machine-man. "Oh Levi, I'm so glad to see you again."  
The phone in Rick's hands suddenly began to ring. "Who is that?", Lindsay asked curious.  
Rick held his breath, because he knew the number on the screen exactly. "This is my daughter," he said, then he didn´t want to let her wait any longer and answered the call. Alexis told him that she, her grandmother and some other people were hiding in the subway of New York and they had survived.  
"...And you are okay, Alexis?", he asked.  
"Yes, Dad. I'm fine. "

Fin

zu Favoriten hinzufügen

X


End file.
